Celebrate: Uma Thurman will star in the comedy Ceremony as a woman about to get married, with Michael Angarano playing a younger man who falls in love with her just before the big day. The movie was scripted and will be directed by Max “son of Henry” Winkler, which bodes well, as we’ve always said that nepotism makes for the best disaster-wedding movies. [Variety]
Meet Up: Jessica Alba may join Little Fockers, the third film in the Meet the Parents series, along with the regulars (Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner, and Owen Wilson). Alba will play a pharmaceutical rep “whose looks wreak havoc on male characters in the story.” So will her job be to distract De Niro from thinking about the kinds of movies he used to make? [Risky Biz Blog/HR]
Choo-Choo: Thomas the Tank Engine will get a big-screen adaptation, written by Josh Krausner (Shrek the Third, Date Night), that will be a mix of live action and CGI and is currently scheduled for a spring 2011 release. Producer Julie Pistor promises “a thrilling, big, modern adventure movie.” To which we say — we’re talking about the same creepy anthropomorphic trains, right? [HR]
On the Hill: The Hills’ Lauren Conrad’s debut novel, L.A. Candy, has been optioned by Temple Hill Entertainment, with Conrad exec-producing through her Blue Eyed Girl Prods. The book, a thinly veiled account of Conrad’s own reality-TV-show history, is also apparently a bestseller, and is only the first in a planned trilogy. Aspiring novelists and screenwriters, continue pulling your hair out. [Variety]
Taking Prisoners: Antoine Fuqua is in talks to direct Prisoners, the vengeance thriller from screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski that once had Bryan Singer, Mark Wahlberg, and Christian Bale attached. The plot revolves around a small-town man who, after watching the police fail to solve the case of his kidnapped daughter, takes the person he believes to be the perpetrator hostage. Apparently nobody ever told this guy that two kidnappings don’t make a right. [HR]
Minus Jon: Jon Gosselin is out of Jon & Kate Plus Eight, and the show, which will be re-titled Kate Plus Eight, is focusing exclusively on Kate Gosselin’s life as a single mother. Jon, who will still appear occasionally, apparently violated the “morals clause” of his contract. But, really, how much of the decision to go with Kate permanently versus Jon was based on the inability of Jon’s name to rhyme with the number eight? [Variety]
